Adam Boating

Last time Adam came to Alaska for a visit, we had our old boat, and it was after that trip that I decided to sell it.  No worries this time, the boat is running great!  

Adam and I were originally going to head out for an over night on the Sound, but with the busy schedule and driving up and back to Chitna, it was just too much.  We instead decided on a day trip.  The schedule worked out in such a way that Renee and Sam could join us too.  The day was hot, the seas were flat, and the winds were calm.  It doesn't get much better than that in the Sound.

Sunny skies and the kids want to go swimming . . . Brrr . . . The water was still only 58 deg, but the air temperature said 72 deg.  Pretty much good as it gets.  Both Zach and Sammy are old pros jumping off the boat.  They even got me to go in . . . once!

Right after I jumped in Adam (who was smart and stayed on the boat) asked me how the water was?  I had to wait to tell him until I got back on the boat, water literally took my breath away.

Kids didn't seem to mind.  Must be something with metabolism, or they just don't know any better.  They don't have an ounce of fat between the two of them, so I'm not real sure. They both swam from the Zodiac all the way to shore.  Sometimes I am not sure they realize that they live in Alaska!

The day was perfect for hanging out on the beach.  The tide was coming in, so our beach had a time limit.  After about an hour of lounging on the smooth warm rocks, it was time to do something else.

The bay is call Three Fingers Lagoon because there are well . . . three fingers to the lagoon.  There is a nice trail that goes from the head of the bay all the way back to Schrode Lake cabin.  If you keep going from there, you can walk all the way to Long Bay.  We rented the cabin for friends Billy and Aimee two summers ago.  There are good berrys back on the trail, and the cabin at the lake is simply amazing, especially on a clear sunny day.  We were just going for a short hike today though, the cabin would have to wait.

Zach found a lost patch of snow.

Boom, boom has no reservations in letting it "all hang out".  That one is definitely not shy. 

Another body of water, another swim.  These kids love the water.  This lake was about a quarter mile in.  It was just enough of a hike for the kids.  Sam calls these hikes our "adventures".  This was enough of an adventure for today.  We sat and watched the kids swim for a while.  The bugs eventually found us so we headed back to the boat.

Just a fun day trip so we took a few more pictures and then headed back to the boat, and pointed in the direction of Whittier.  We stopped on the way back to pick up our shrimp pots, and were able to make the 6:00 tunnel back to Anchorage.  All in all a very fun day.  I think we were all wishing it could have lasted a bit longer. 

Chipped Tooth

Doug was out in the villages this week, so I was a single parent from Monday to Friday.  I went to Mark's retirement party from 4-6 pm and then dashed across the street to get Zach and Sam.  I had dropped them off at summer camp at 2 pm after we all had our teeth cleaned and checked at the dentist from noon - 2 pm.  So, I was a bit surprised when Zach and the center director came running up with "tooth problems".  Zach had been "horsing" around and ran into a wall....and he broke his front tooth.

After I recovered, I called the dentist and left a message.  He was so nice in that when he got off the river fishing he texted me...at 12:30 am!  He reassured me that he sees chipped teeth all the time.

Two weeks later I took Zach in to have the tooth fixed.  It is an adult tooth, but thankfully most of it is still up in the gums.  So, he didn't break it near the root.  The dentist did an amazing job with a filler to fix the tooth.  Yet, I still get sad when I think about it....really a permanent tooth!

Mark Wedman Retirement

Mark Wedman (center) has been with Halliburton for 33 years.  He is leaving us to work as a consultant for a client that he has been working "in house" for the past couple of years.  Mark is the best and we sure will miss him.  He was always there to help me; espeically early on in my career when I was in over my head with some of the engineering classes I had to take for my master's degree.  Mark was always there to help.

Mark built many of the buildings in Prudhoe Bay and commented in his "farewell speech" that he had seen a life span of the buildings.  It is true....I have now torn down much of what he put up.  I told someone that I had a "Wedman" moment as I was showing someone around and knew a lot about some of the buildings as I had been there when they were constructed.

Las Margaritas was on the agenda for tonight after work.  Above:  me, Mark, Steve Johnstone

Steve and Melonnie.

Chris Schafer, District Manager, and Donna Martin, HR.

Mike Randall and Buzz Yohman.

I had a gold pan done for Mark.

The highlight of the evening was the metal moose antler display stand and railroad spike knife that Steve Johnstone did for Mark.  Steve is exceptionally talented and I am so lucky to have him on my team.  When the demolition of the buildings in Prudhoe happened 18 months ago, I suggested to Steve that he find something for Mark as we knew he would be retiring from Halliburton soon.  Steve took a piece of casing used as pilings in one of the old buildings and made something fantastic out of it.  We almost got Mark to tear up....he recovered well.

Vern Johnson, Pioneer, where Mark is going to work gave him a dozen red roses so Mark could learn to"stop and smell the roses".

Donna and Mark's wife, Kim.

More Chipped Teeth Pictures

Ahh . . . those are permanent teeth!!

 

Someone ran into a wall today at school and chipped a tooth.  Dang kids.  Renee made a frantic call to the dentist, who luckily put her at ease.  Mark the dentist said that he sees several of these a week, and that he would be able to set it strait. 

That is good because we have spent a bunch on orthodontics straitening those now chipped teeth.  I told Zach that he need to wait until much later to be chipping his teeth. And he should have a better story too . . . like fighting zombies!

Update - He went to the dentist on Monday and honestly, you can't even tell the tooth was ever chipped.  Mark did a great job!  Color matched perfectly.  Dang kids!!

4th of July

Pictures from our wet and soggy 4th of July weekend.  We originally planned on heading out for four days, but because of rain, we decided it was better to pair it down to just two days.  

We drove down to Whittier from Anchorage in the rain.  Wouldn't you know it, nicest summer on record, we get four days in a row off and what do we get . . . rain.  Kids didn't seem to mind.  I think Renee and I were more concerned about being cooped up with two rambunctious kids on a small boat for four days.  I was checking the DVD's to make sure that we brought enough movies!!

Low clouds, patchy fog, at least the waves/wind were fairly calm.  We got kind of a late start, the rain helped with the procrastination.  Our friend Karl had already launched his boat and was waiting for us in Surprise Cove.

Karl was looking pretty damp by the time we got to him in Surprise Cove.  The rain in the Sound just seep into you.  Oh well, at least we are out enjoying the boats with friends and not sitting in front of the computer at work.  We spent the night in Surprise and the next day decided to try and head to Naked Island.  Naked Island is situated kind of in the middle of the Sound.  Things were going pretty well until we passed Long Island.  There the 2 foot chop turned into 6-7 foot rollers with some chop thrown in.  It wasn't dangerous, but it meant that we had to come off step and slow the boat down to around 5-7 kts.  It was going to be a slow and bumpy ride.  The crew was starting to turn a light shade of green, so after about 10 minutes of the Prince William Sound roller coaster, we turned around and headed for smoother waters.  Naked Island would just have to wait for a better weekend.

We eventually ended up in Harrison Lagoon in Culross Passage.  Zach and I had come in here a few weeks before with Brent.  Nice anchorage and it is protected from the stormy weather outside.

As you can see, it remained foggy and rainy the entire time.  We had fun with some celebratory fire works for the 4th, and then had some hot dinner.

Sammy and Karl's dog seemed to be the only ones that didn't mind the rain.

Two wet boats.  

New flag and pole that I installed for the holiday.

We met two kayakers from Colorado that had holed up in the Goose Bay Cabin.  The cabin is still "out of service" from last year, but there are ways to get in and take shelter from the storm.  Beats sleeping in a tent in the rain.  We stopped over several times to re-provision them with refreshments, and some extra food.  One of the guys had me e-mail his girlfriend with a couple of pictures from the trip and a short note telling her all was well.  I always like helping people out when we see them out in the Sound.  Makes their trip a bit more enjoyable and I like showing off our beautiful State.

After two days of rain, we packed it up and headed for home.  Hopefully the "summer of sun" had not fully come to an end.  Despite the rain we still had fun, and now we had an extra day at home before going back to work.  It all worked out in the end.

Pre-School Checks!

We are beating the before school rush to get all the needed physicals done.

Kids are healthy and good to go!